Starting from the Planetary Governor

Although he had already formed a new Heretic Demon Hunter Squad of fifty people, spending over a thousand points of favor and pouring half of this month's income into it, he was preparing them to take over the jobs of the Battle Nuns.

But this was, after all, merely a backup plan.

The capabilities of the Heretic Demon Hunters couldn't match the ferocity of the Battle Nuns. They might barely keep up in investigation and exploration, but their combat strength was far inferior.

Even if they were equipped with exoskeletons and the Alliance's most outstanding individual combat gear, in addition to their various Spiritual Energy talents, they were definitely no match for the Battle Nuns.

These noble ladies, in single combat, could probably only be steadily suppressed by interstellar warriors. According to Gu Hang's Army Badge System in terms of capabilities, they had to be at least T1 level with a set of Emperor's Blessing Buffs as super soldiers.

Besides combat strength, the Battle Nuns had been investigating that Cult for a year already and had been active in the Northern Territories for so long that their grasp of intelligence and understanding of local conditions were incomparable to the newly arrived Heretic Demon Hunters.

All were disadvantages.

If it were possible to resolve the matter before the Nuns left, that would of course be best.

After listening to Georgette's detailed account, Gu Hang was pondering:

"Your plan does indeed have a possibility of being realized, let me think carefully... Tadeusz? Bring my chief of staff to me, I need to know how much force we can mobilize."

...

Five days later, Northern Territories, Polar Industrial City.

Now, with the season approaching autumn, the residual warmth was still present in the Green Valley Region to the south, where the main grain crops were ready for harvest, painting the landscape in golden hues as people began their hard yet joyful work.

This would be a year of abundance.

However, in the north, the season had already brought snowfall.

The first heavy snow covered the area surrounding the Extreme North Industrial City in a blanket of white.

But the city itself stood out amidst the snow, still drab and sweltering with heat.

The Northern Territories are vast, even larger than the combined area of the Green Valley and Western Desert Regions. However, the climate here is a bit more severe and it suffered greatly during the world-ending war. Life for its inhabitants is harsher and the population, sparser.

According to the last census of the Old Alliance from a few years ago, during the era of the second Governor-General, the population of the expansive Northern Territories had dwindled to around three million individuals.

Within the Northern Territories, the greatest force was a corporation named 'Polar Industrial Group'.

A large portion of the Northern populace serves them, either as directly hired employees—which is a rather high-status position with better compensation and living conditions—or as informal workers, or simply those serving industries related to the Polar Industries Group, which is not as favorable.

And then there are those with no ties at all whose lives are generally even more impoverished.

With a decent industrial capability, the Polar Industrial Group produces various consumer goods, mechanical products, including vehicles, engineering machinery, and armaments.

As for food production in the Northern Territories, it is minimal with only a few greenhouse plantations, which are not enough to ensure food supply for millions.

The majority of food for the Northern Territories comes from imports from the Western Desert Region.

And this grey-black city, still smoking from metal smelting and industrial heat amidst the snow, is the headquarters of Polar Industries.

Originally, it was unnamed—an industrial base—until the scale grew, more people worked there, and it took on the appearance of an industrial urban area, hence acquiring the name 'Extreme North Industrial City.'

At the moment, within a luxurious office at the top of the industrial city, Jerome Pierre sat with a gloomy expression, deep in thought.

He was the current CEO of Polar Industries, arguably the most powerful man in the Northern Territories.

In theory, not much should trouble someone like him anymore.

But lately, one troubling issue after another had been cropping up.

The latest news was of an army of unknown size, but not small in scale, that had appeared on the highways of the Central-North Province and was continuing northward.

Frankly, since the establishment of the Alliance, he had never been at ease.

Polar Industries had fairly close ties with the Primordial Wrath Owl Sect. Although Pierre didn't particularly like those fanatics, troubles that money could settle didn't need to be overcomplicated. Moreover, that Cult had been established in the Northlands even longer than they had, and at one point had built up quite a widespread following.

Particularly many of the lower-class laborers believed in this Cult, thinking that by worshipping the Primal Fury Owl, they could reach an afterlife on Rage Owl Star as prosperous as the past.

Falling out with the Primordial Wrath Owl Sect wouldn't do; firstly, they lacked the strength to thoroughly eradicate the entire Sect; secondly, it would destabilize their industries; and thirdly, they would struggle to cope with reprisals.

Paying a sum as a 'donation' to maintain good relations and ensure peace seemed the better option.

Once relations improved, they found it interesting that they could leave some dirty and troublesome tasks to the Sect.